It's official: Veronique Branquinho has gone over to the dark side, showing an entirely black collection for fall. Not that she had far to go; this is a designer who's always had a taste for the gothic.

Although the first outfit's brass-buttoned jacket suggested a military theme to follow, the collection ultimately focused on basics—blazers and sweaters, knee-length skirts, and beautifully cut pants, most in sturdy wools and leather. Branquinho's forays into menswear (she launched her first men's collection in January 2003) have clearly influenced her thinking; other clues to what this collection was about could be found in the music (Depeche Mode and Kate Bush) and several hip toppers with an eighties feel—like a windbreakery number on Caitriona Balfe and a leather jerkin-meets-motorcycle-jacket on Katia Kokoreva.